Cambridge Analytica files for bankruptcy in the US

Cambridge Analytica, a British data firm hired by the Trump campaign, on Thursday officially filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for its U.S. branch.

The firm, whose data collection methods have come under scrutiny by Congress, filed the petition to a Manhattan court along with its parent company SCL Group, according to BuzzFeed News. 

The filings were expected after Cambridge announced earlier this month that it had begun bankruptcy proceedings in the United Kingdom.

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The bankruptcy reports come after a whirlwind of controversy following revelations the company had improperly obtained profile data from nearly 87 million Facebook users during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Cambridge Analytica’s closure cost the jobs of 107 people between its offices in London, New York and Washington, according to USA Today. 

The bankruptcy will require Cambridge Analytica’s American entity to sell off the remainder of its assets, which total between $101,000 to $500,000, BuzzFeed reports. Its remaining liabilities are reported to be between $1 million and $10 million.

The stolen data, which the firm obtained through a Facebook quiz app, sparked a probe by Congress into Facebook’s privacy and data collection policies.

Cambridge Analytica is also under investigation by the FBI and Justice Department, as well as the special counsel appointed to lead a probe into Russia’s interference in the election, for its creation of data models used to aid the Trump campaign in its online efforts.